Video: US considering direct aid to Syrian rebels?

posted at 11:21 am on February 27, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Has the Obama administration decided to intervene in Syria? CBS News reports that the White House is now floating trial balloons about providing direct aid to the rebels fighting the Bashar Assad regime — “non-lethal” aid, but aid nonetheless. Even non-lethal aid allows the rebels to use other resources to improve their arms capability, and American assistance would give them a boost in prestige with other Western nations. And if any of this sounds familiar, it just means you didn’t sleep through the US-European intervention in Libya almost two years ago:

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. and its allies want to raise support for Syria’s opposition to help speed President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.

Assad “needs to know he can’t shoot his way out of this,” Kerry said about the Syria conflict at a press conference today in Paris with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. “And I think the opposition needs more help in order to convince him.”

Kerry said the U.S. and its allies are working together to forge a unified position on Assad’s exit from power. The U.S. chief diplomat is due to attend an international meeting in Rome tomorrow with members of the Syrian opposition. Kerry, on stops in Berlin yesterday and in London on Feb. 25, said the U.S. is considering a policy shift on Syria if Assad won’t join talks.

Remind me again how well these 30,000-foot interventions worked out in Egypt and Libya. In the former, we ended up assisting the Muslim Brotherhood’s ascent to power in place of a dictator who at least kept the peace with Israel. In the latter, we decapitated the Qaddafi regime and turned Libya into a failed state run by terrorist networks, and ended up getting chased out of Benghazi along with every other Western government that helped overthrow Qaddafi’s clique.

Will it be any different in Syria? Just a couple of months ago, the Obama administration named the core of the Syrian resistance a terrorist network with ties to al-Qaeda. In fact, many of their fighters come from … eastern Libya, where we helpfully provided those terrorist networks with plenty of breathing space to organize. Why would we want to extend that free space into Syria?

While you ponder that question, consider this Washington Post update on Hezbollah, which gets support from Assad and from Iran, which we’ve offered bilateral talks. If you’re wondering what they’re up to these days, it’s not diplomacy:

The Israeli tourists on Arkia Airlines Flight 161 from Tel Aviv could not have known it, but their arrival in Cyprus July 6 was watched closely. A pair of trained eyes counted each passenger as the group exited the plane and boarded a shuttle, headed for resorts that had also been carefully studied and mapped.

The bearded foreigner who silently tracked the Israelis had done his work well. He knew where the visitors would sleep, shop and eat. He knew how many security guards patrolled their hotel parking lots and how long it would take police to arrive from the station down the street.

But the watcher was being watched. When Cypriot police picked him up, the Hezbollah operative quickly acknowledged what he was doing, although he claimed not to know why.

“I was just collecting information about the Jews,” he told police, according to a sworn deposition. “This is what my organization is doing, everywhere in the world.”

That prompts this question: does Assad’s fall hurt Hezbollah? Or will a new power structure aligned with AQ in Syria strengthen Hezbollah’s efforts? If you can’t answer that question, at least we should agree that the US should know the answer before deciding to intervene on anyone’s behalf in yet another “Arab Spring” country.

Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal quoted the Syrian rebels as saying mines placed on the Beirut-Damascus highway had detonated as the convoy returned from a high-level security meeting in Lebanon. The explosion reportedly took place near the town of Jdeidet Yabous near the Lebanon-Syria border.

The al-Mustaqbal report made no mention of Qassem being killed in the attack, saying that he had merely been injured.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

That prompts this question: does Assad’s fall hurt Hezbollah? Or will a new power structure aligned with AQ in Syria strengthen Hezbollah’s efforts? If you can’t answer that question, at least we should agree that the US should know the answer before deciding to intervene on anyone’s behalf in yet another “Arab Spring” country.

Of course it should be answered…

I don’t know how Kerry et al will handle this…

Personally I don’t think it is a good idea to provide support.

The more ‘we’ do, the less we get and the stronger the MB gets.

Muslims have fought not only Christians the world over for over 1000 years, but they have fought each other.

They’re letting illegals go because of delusional budget shortfalls and not deploying an aircraft carrier to the gulf because of the same transparent lie … but they have money to back the al quaeda rebels in Syria??

Impeachment should have happened 4 years ago, and every month since then, but this is beyond ridiculous.

When will Nature rid me of this 84 IQ dog-eating America-hating traitor? I know the cowardly GOP won’t do it, the spineless, gutless pieces OS …

Absolutely phucking brilliant idea… Russia is publicly and prominently backing the Assad Regime, what could possibly go wrong by having the United States take the exact same stance regarding the Syrian (read Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda here) insurgents.

One can only conclude that someone either in the Whitehouse or over at Foggy Bottom is actively attempting to either re start the Cold War, or start a genuine Hot war with Russia. Obama the great Destroyer? yea, the phrase has more than a mere ring of truth to it.

as the Obama administration decided to intervene in Syria? CBS News reports that the White House is now floating trial balloons about providing direct aid to the rebels fighting the Bashar Assad regime — “non-lethal” aid, but aid nonetheless.
=========================================

Genuinely stupid question Ed, how about asking the only damned question that counts here. How is Putin likely to react to having the US depose his Syrian Puppet, will he retaliate or not, and if so, what form will that retaliation take? Will it be the pu$$y a$$ cyber hacking path of the Chinese, or will it involve bombs guns tanks ships and nuclear armed ICBM’s?

Already dead. We live in the American Socialist Superstate. The only reasonable move from here is a national divorce. Time to split up like Czechoslovakia. The left can have the hell they’ve created and the Vichy Right can stay there with them. It’s time to re-establish a nation with American principles, which the A.S.S. is most certainly not.

” “We appeal to the whole world to stop arms from being sent to Syria”. So said a statement made by the Greek Catholic Melkite Patriarch Gregory III Laham following a spate of explosions in a district of Damascus on February 23.

The statement also recalled that on on February 21, there were three successive explosions in the Mazraa district of Damascus that left 53 persons dead, 235 wounded and serious material damage “particularly to a school and a hospital.”

“We ask the international community and the most important countries in the world, to support Syrian efforts to promote dialogue, in order to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis ” wrote the Patriarch.

“From the depth of our heart we cry to the conscience of the entire world, to leaders of nations, especially of Arab countries, to international institutions, to peace militants, to His Holiness the Pope and to Bishops’ Conferences throughout the world ” the message continues. “We beg them to listen to our voice and to see the suffering of the Syrian people. No one has the right to exonerate himself or deny his responsibility in the face of these massacres, this destruction and these acts of violence, or in the face of hatred and rancour between sons of the same homeland.”

Gregory III Laham appealed to the United States and Russia to “continue sincere efforts to promote dialogue and reach a political and global solution ” and finally urges “His Holiness, the Pope, and those in positions of responsibility at the Apostolic See of Rome, to launch a diplomatic initiative on behalf of the Catholic Church based on its world wide spiritual influence “….

Actually, I recall reading about a plan years ago to splinter the USA into smaller nations, or fiefdoms, finally eliminating it as a dominant world superpower, making the smaller splinter nations ineffective in international influence.

We aided Al-Qaeda-backed Libyan Rebels, & allowed them to seize over 2,500 shoulder-launched rockets (now being found in Egypt & Gaza)…and got in return the 1st dead Ambassador in 30 years & 3 other dead Americans.

We aided the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt, for which we got our Embassy in Cairo overrun/burned….and even though we are over $14.5 TRILLION in debt & Obama is going around scaring the H#LL out of Americans over cutting $83 Billion in/from the amount of the coming INCREASED deficit-spending (Sequestration), our government is about to GIVE the Muslim Brotherhood OVER $2 TRILLION in 20 new F-16 Fighters & 200 Tanks?! (We are giving TERRORISTS $2 Billion in military weapons they can pretty much only use on our ALLY Israel, but we are CHARGING our NON-TERRORIST Ally – the UAE – for drones…make sense?!)

Obama has sent troops into Niger and is openning up drone bases there in order to engage in Drone WARfare – killing Al Qaeda (who we were told is on the run but who are instead GROWING across the globe). If going into Iraq was such a horrible idea because Iraq was not a threat (I would say they were more of a threat than LIBYA was), then why are we sending troops into Niger, Africa to fight an enemy that Obama told us was on the run & no longer a factor?

NOW, Obama, the guy who railed about ‘Bush’s wars’ wants to inject ourselves … and more money we DON’T have… into Syria?!

Under Bush, we were involved in wars in Afghanistan & Iraq. Under Obama, we are/were involved in wars/Ops in Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Niger, & now Syria….

Libs will argue ‘No boots on the ground in Libya’.
1) That is a lie: Spec Ops/Trainers/Advisors were on the ground. We don’t provided aid without having some type of presence on the ground, whether SpecOps, CIA, etc.
2) If we were going to help overthrow Qadaffi we NEEDED (more) boots on the ground because Libya’s huge checm/bio-weapons depot was left unguarded, & more than 2,500 shoulder-launched missiles went missing, now in egypt, Gaza, & probably in Syria & possibly ‘coming to an airport near you’ in the future.

Being trillions in debt, how about we not GIVE terrorists billions of dollars in weapons & overthrow ‘stable’ governments because we want to push OUR idea of Democracy/freedom onto others?! Yes, Syria was under a ‘tyrant’s’ hand/rule, but he kept the peace, protectd all religeons – including Christians, & kept the Terrorists from taking over. Our style of democracy doesn’t work there….as seen by Egyptians now fighting/trying to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood government, the terrorists we just helped put into office!

Direct aid to Syrian rebels? I could’ve sworn there was a sequester upcoming wherein nothing can be done anywhere, domestically or internationally, by Obama because… Armageddon. Anyone hear of this “sequester” thing? Frankly, it sounds made up.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee will introduce legislation this week giving President Obama the power to “provide vetted Syrian opposition members with appropriate lethal military assistance,” according to a summary of the bill obtained by The Hill.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) announced his intention to drop the bill during an appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” The bill would also allow the president to provide further non-lethal assistance such as body armor and helmets, create a “Radio Free Syria” and set up a program to “facilitate destruction of Syrian chemical and biological weapons.”

The White House is under growing pressure to arm the rebels following revelations that top administration officials – including former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA director David Petraeus and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey – have supported such a move since last year. The administration has spent almost $400 million in humanitarian aid for Syrians since the civil war started two years ago and is now reportedly weighing sending body armor and other defensive equipment.

“President Assad’s days are numbered and no longer can we watch from the sidelines as Syria goes from bad to worse,” Engel said in a statement Wednesday. “Now is the time to arm friendly rebels and turn the tide to allow for a more hopeful Syrian future. Ridding Syria of Assad will provide a strategic setback to Iran, which uses Syria as a pass-through to prop up their terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Here’s the summary:

“Free Syria Act of 2013”

The bill contains three main titles:

TITLE I: Humanitarian and Economic Assistance

· Authorizes the President to provide assistance to protect populations affected by the conflict, including women and girls.

· Prohibits assistance to groups that violate the principle of medical neutrality.

· Authorizes an Administration-requested authority to facilitate transfer of funds between accounts to address the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people.

· Raises the threshold of funds available to assist refugees.

· Authorizes the President to provide assistance to local coordination committees to meet the humanitarian and governance needs of the Syrian people.

· Authorizes establishment of a “Radio Free Syria”.

· Requires a reworking of US “branding policy” to highlight US assistance efforts while ensuring that implementing partners are not endangered.

TITLE II: Security Assistance

· Authorizes the President to provide vetted Syrian opposition members with appropriate lethal military assistance.

· Authorizes a program to facilitate destruction of Syrian chemical and biological weapons.

TITLE III: Transition Assistance

· Authorizes the President to provide assistance to support Syria’s transition to peace, democracy, and sustainable development under the appropriate governance conditions. This will be accompanied by an authority for a “Syria Transition Fund” Authorizes the President to undertake a responsible suspension of Syria sanctions if certain conditions are met.

· Authorizes temporary personnel authorities for the State Department to address the situation in Syria.

We helped get rid of the Shah and got mad mullahs in Iran. We got rid of Saddam and Iraq is now allied with mad mullah Iran. We got rid of Gaddafi and we got Benghazi. We helped to get rid of Mubarak and now we have Herr Morsi and the Muslim Nazihood. There is a lesson there that only a potted plant would be oblivious to.

And don’t anyone make me laugh by saying they will vouch for the “Free Syrian Army” as they are a bunch of bloody bastards themselves who, if they take power, will very likely far eclipse Assad in that department.

Obama obviously hasn’t learned his Libyan lesson–the enemy of our enemy isn’t necessarily our friend. If we take out a strongman, we need to know whom we are helping, and then decide whether the replacement government would be better or worse for American interests than the strongman.

Assad is no choirboy (he was a Baathist ally of Saddam Hussein in Iraq), and he also invaded Lebanon, which had been a relatively peaceful multi-faith country prior to his invasion.

But if Assad’s army is preoccupied with maintaining his own power in Syria against a domestic uprising, it can’t occupy Lebanon, meaning that the power struggle in Syria is the perfect opportunity to liberate Lebanon.

If we had a smart President and Secretary of State, they would probably be meeting with Israel and France (which had strong ties to Lebanon before the Syrian takeover) to force Syrian troops out of Lebanon in order to re-establish democracy there (Lebanon has a strong Christian population, and a significant Jewish population, while Muslims are divided). Israel also would like a free, peaceful Lebanon, so that it would no longer fear rockets being fired from Lebanon.

But, the American voters were not smart enough to elect a smart President, so we will probably replace Assad with another Syrian government even more hostile to Lebanon, Israel, and the United States.

Any American diplomat who thinks we should help the Syrian rebels needs to have a good long talk with Bibi Netanyahu, the real brains behind Smart Power.